SIGMA USER GUIDE
GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR SONTRONICS SIGMA
• Getting started: Connect your XLR cable to your preamp or mixing console, then turn on the phantom power. Unlike regular ribbon microphones, SIGMA only works with phantom power. • Microphone placement: Remember, SIGMA is much more sensitive than transformer-based ribbon microphones, and therefore requires slightly different placement techniques to achieve the best results. Think of SIGMA like your ear when considering the proximity to the source you are recording, and take care not to overload the delicate ribbon membrane itself. For example, when miking an electric guitar cabinet, you can afford to place SIGMA two or three feet further back than you would put a regular ribbon microphone. However, when miking string instruments such as violin or cello, SIGMA is happy to be placed closer to the source. Thanks to its increased sensitivity and stable, consistent output levels, SIGMA requires less gain from your preamp and therefore allows you to record at higher levels with less noise. • Protection: It is sometimes useful to angle the front face of SIGMA at 45° to the ﬂoor in order to minimise the potentially damaging effects of wind blast to the ribbon. A pop ﬁlter, such as the Sontronics ST-POP, should always be used when recording speech, vocals and brass/wind instruments. NEVER BLOW DIRECTLY INTO SIGMA! • Pickup pattern: SIGMA’s pickup pattern is ﬁgure-of-eight and, in common with all ribbon microphones, you will notice slightly different characteristics when recording from the front or from the rear. This is quite normal, and can be very useful. • Frequency response: One of the primary characteristics of ribbon microphones is that, unlike many condenser microphones, they do not have an accentuated high-frequency response. To the untrained ear, this can sound quite strange, but once your ears have grown accustomed to this phenomenon, it will become evident how useful SIGMA is, especially when recording instruments that have a high-frequency bias. As a result, room ambience and ‘air’ are minimised, and it can sound as if the instrument is being played right next to you. • Applications: Thanks to its very speciﬁc frequency response characteristics, users have told us that SIGMA is perfect for recording the following: cello, violin, spoken word/broadcast, alto and tenor saxophone, accordion, drum overheads, acoustic guitar, electric guitar cabinets, ﬂute, trumpet and piano. Of course, if you ﬁnd SIGMA produces great results on any other instruments or sources, please let us know!
Contact us: +44 (0)1202 236862 • +44 (0)7940 856275 • info@sontronics.com Find out more about the full range of SONTRONICS microphones and audio products at www.sontronics.com